De Pere, WI Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 7-9 of the De Pere Code of Ordinances treats public drinking as three separate offenses. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful to consume intoxicating liquor or fermented malt beverage while in or upon any street, alley, sidewalk, thoroughfare, parking lot or other public way in the city. Subsection (b) requires that anything purchased by the glass or in an open container at a licensed tavern, restaurant or liquor store stay on that licensed premises; a patron cannot carry a drink out the door and onto the sidewalk. Subsection (c) makes bare possession of an open alcohol container in those same public areas a separate violation, so police do not have to catch someone mid-sip to issue a citation.

The ordinance builds in one narrow escape valve: under subsection (d), the license committee of the common council may recommend that the full council issue a special permit allowing consumption or possession contrary to the ban, but only where the committee is satisfied that adequate supervision and police protection exist, and only for a specified time and location. There is no self-executing exemption for a private event; the permit has to be granted in advance.

Enforcement runs through the city's municipal forfeiture system rather than criminal court. Subsection (e) makes any violation of section 7-9 subject to a forfeiture set by common council resolution, and if that forfeiture and its costs, fees and assessments go unpaid, the violator can face the alternative collection penalties available under Wis. Stats. ch. 800, the state's municipal court chapter.